The Frog Prince
by 7thstory
Summary: Princess Ouka always gets what she wants...or does she? (AU, shounen-ai, one-shot)


Oh, geez...I apologize in advance for this story. It's the result of a rabid plot bunny attack. Please don't hold it against me. I'm sorry if this has been done before. (I've never seen it, but it could have been...) Anyway, I hope this fic does what it set out to do and makes you laugh. Or at least smile.

Warnings: Umminor shounen ai. But really, if you've read any of my other stuff, that shouldn't surprise you. Oh, and it's AU.

Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz is not mine. I only own a box set of the first season.

----------_The Frog Prince _-----------

I always get what I want. Always. That froggy little prince should have been no exception. 

All right, so he actually wasn't especially froggy, but you know what they say about first impressions, and when I first met him he had very distinctly amphibian qualities.

Perhaps I should start from the beginning.

It was late spring. A perfect day. You know the kind of day, everything's completely green, the sun is shining, but it's not too hot and the air is full of birdsong and not too many bugs.

Anyway, it was a great day. So I went outside. All right, so I should have been doing my needlepoint, or reading fine literature, but I can't be a princess 24/7, now can I? Besides, days like that don't come very often. So I took my favorite plaything—a golden ball I'd gotten for my birthday—and headed down to the best spot in our gardens.

If you walk down through the courtyards and turn past the first of our orchards, you'll get to a small stand of trees surrounding a natural pool. It's shady and cool there, and I love to sit by the water, as long as it isn't too buggy. And that's where I went on the day in question. 

I sat down by the water and began idly tossing my ball and catching it again. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing, and before I knew it, there was a splash, and my ball was in the pool. 

Now, I couldn't just leave it there. I liked that ball, and besides, it was a gift from Daddy, and I had asked for it specially. He wouldn't be very happy to hear that I'd lost it in the pond. 

I was just rolling up my sleeves to try and reach the lost toy, when a voice stopped me.

"It would be a shame to ruin such a pretty dress. Let me get the ball for you."

I looked up. "Who's there?"

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and I turned. 

"It's me." 

Now, it isn't every day that one is spoken to by a frog. I wasn't worried, though, it seemed friendly, and if it tried to turn on me, I could always squish it.

"You'd get it for me?"

"Well..." If frogs can look calculating, then I swear this one did. "I'd want something in return, of course." 

"Uh huh...And that would be?"

"I want you to take me back to the palace with you and let me eat off your plate and sleep on your pillow. That's all."

"Oh, that's all? Fine. That's simple."

Now, I had no intention of taking this frog anywhere. I don't like frogs. They're slimy. I certainly wasn't going to let one hop into bed with me...But then, I also didn't want to get pond slime on my sleeves. And, as I said before, I could always squish the frog.

Well, the frog got the ball for me. As it came to the surface with the ball in between it's webbed feet, I grabbed my toy and, with a parting yell of "thank you!" I was off.

In retrospect, I suppose I should have known I couldn't get rid of the frog that easily.

That night, it came and knocked (no, I didn't know frogs could knock, either) at the gates of the palace.

"Oh, Princess! I believe you've forgotten something..."

"Ugh..." I muttered. 

A servant came into the dining room, carrying the frog. "So sorry to disturb your majesties, but this frog says that he made a deal with the princess..."

I turned to my father. "Daddy, I didn't think I'd actually have to..." 

"Now, Ouka, I know I've taught you the importance of keeping your word. Whatever you've promised this frog, well...you'll just have to do it."

I sighed. "Bring the frog over here."

I directed the servant to set the amphibian by my plate. The others at the table watched in astonishment as the frog helped itself to the food I had been served.

After dinner, I went to my room as quickly as I could. Eating dinner with the frog had been bad enough. I'd be damned if I was going to let the thing sleep with me.

I locked the door to my room, though I knew it would do little good. 

Sure enough, "Princess?" came the frog's voice from outside my door. I wasn't going to have Daddy lecture me abut keeping my word, so I opened it.

"All right, all right..."

"Lift me up, please," the frog requested, rather nicely. 

I did so, noting that the frog was not as slimy as I had expected. It was just cool and smooth.

"Good night, Princess."

"Don't call me that. My name is Ouka."

The frog nodded. "Ouka, then. Good night."

"Goodnight...er..."

"Omi. My name is Omi."

"Good night, Omi."

The next two days passed normally. The frog didn't go everywhere with me, it just showed up at mealtimes and bedtime to eat and sleep at my side. I got used to it, and somewhere along the line "the frog" became "Omi" in my thoughts, and "it" became a "him".

The third day, however, didn't even _begin_ normally.

I woke up staring at a boy about my age. He was lying next to me, _in my bed._ I had jumped out of bed and was about to scream for a guard when the boy woke up, yawned hugely, and said in a very familiar voice, "Good morning, Ouka."

"O—omi?!"

Omi blinked tiredly, sat up, and looked down at himself. Suddenly, he was fully awake. He bounded out of bed.

"It worked! It WORKED! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

"W-what?" Before I knew what was going on, I had been wrapped in a very tight hug and released, and Omi was halfway to the door.

"Wait a minute! If you're so grateful to me, the least you can do is give me some kind of explanation!"

"Oh!" He blushed. "I'm sorry..."

He stared at his feet, biting his lip. "The thing is, it's kinda hard to believe..."

"What, and talking frogs who suddenly turn into humans aren't?"

"Good point. Well, I guess the shortest explanation would be that I was cursed by a vengeful fairy. She turned me into a frog and told me that I would stay one until I found a princess who was willing to let me eat off her plate and sleep on her pillow for three days. Now that you've done that, I'm free! Thank you, again."

Well, I have to say, I was pretty happy to hear this. I may not be too well-read, but I know my fairy tales, and any princess who breaks a spell on a prince has dibs on him for keeps. And here I'd freed one that was all blond hair and blue eyes, with the sweetest face..._Very_ cute. 

"So, what happens now?" I asked, hoping he knew fairy tales as well as I did.

"Ah, well, now I'll be on my way...Got to get back to my kingdom, you know. Drop by if you're ever in the neighborhood..." He sounded nervous for some reason, and he was heading back towards the door.

"Hold on!"

Omi stopped right before the door with a visible sigh.

"What is it?"

I thought fast. There was no way I was going to let him get away. 

"Um...You must let me make up for my poor hospitality these past few days."

"Oh, it's nothing."

"No, no, I insist. Stay at the palace for a while." 

"I suppose it would be rude to refuse your offer..." Omi sounded a bit...disappointed? No, that couldn't be right. Must be imagining things.

"Wonderful! I'll go tell Daddy."

I started to leave and noticed that Omi hadn't moved. 

"You come, too."

For the next couple weeks, I did my best to keep Omi with me as much as possible. I figured he'd warm up to me once he got to know me better. I'm a nice girl, really.

I had a lot of fun those days. We went riding together, we toured the kingdom and we spent hours exploring the forgotten corners of the palace. I knew most of them, but it's always nice to be able to show off your home's secret passages to someone else.

I think Omi had the best time when we walked in the gardens. The boy loved flowers. He knew the names of all of them, even some that I hadn't even known we grew. I think he even taught our gardener a few things he didn't know. Of course, I could be wrong. We have a very good gardener, young though he is.

That was the one thing that annoyed me about walking in the gardens with Omi. The gardener just wouldn't leave us alone. Not only that, Omi seemed to like talking to him more than he enjoyed my conversation. Probably just because they both liked flowers. It still irked me. 

Though I tried to stay close to Omi most of the time, he managed to disappear on me for hours at a time. I had no idea where he went, until one day, when I decided to walk in the garden on my own, as Omi had gone missing again. 

I was walking along, enjoying the flowers, when I heard voices around the corner. Naturally, I had to go see who was there.

Well, it did solve one mystery for me. There was Omi. I should have known he'd head for the garden. But really, how could I have guessed that he was sneaking off to flirt with our gardener?

Actually, they were doing a lot more than just flirting. When I found them, Omi and the gardener were kissing, both of them blushing redder than the roses on the half-trimmed bush behind them. It was a gentle kiss, sweet enough to make _me_ blush for all I was nine feet away. 

It made me angry. I wanted Omi to kiss _me_ that way, not a servant! What kind of prince _was_ he, ignoring the princess who saved him to go after her _gardener_ ?

I headed toward them, not caring if they heard me. 

They broke apart instantly. "O-ouka...!" Omi exclaimed.

"Is _this_ where you've been going every day? Out to the garden to...to..." I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Ouka, let me explain. I haven't...I mean, up until now we just talked...This is the first time we actually..." Omi was blushing again, and the gardener was staring at the ground, digging up a clump of grass with his toe.

"And I didn't mean to lead you on, or anything...I've known for a long time that I didn't like girls..._that_ way. I kept trying to bring it up, but you'd always change the subject."

"You...you used me! I was just a...a way to get the spell off you, is that it?!"

"Well..." Omi looked really uncomfortable now. "I didn't want to, but the fairy was very specific that it had to be a princ_ess_. I wanted to tell you, but, like I said, you kept changing the subject...I like you, Ouka. I was hoping we could be friends..."

"I think it's time you were going back to your kingdom." I was very proud of the frighteningly icy tone I managed to adopt. I turned to the gardener. "And you. What's your name?"

"Um...It's Ken, your highness."

"Well, then. Ken, you're fired. Get out of my sight."

Ken gave a deep nod and left quickly.

Omi, still standing in front of me, gave me an unreadable stare. "Goodbye, Ouka." His voice was heavy with disappointment.

He followed Ken out of the garden.

That was the last I saw of Omi, though I think I might have heard about a kingdom whose prince returned after years of absence, only to be disowned by his father for reasons that were not made public.

I hope you and your gardener are happy _now_, Omi. Now that you're _both_ commoners.

As for me, well, I've started spending more time by the pond. 

I think I'll try to find another frog.

------ _owari _------

Well, there you have it. When you review, please bear in mind that I finished this at 1:17 AM, and that I'm insane. 

I hope you enjoyed my craziness, and I'm sorry if any Ouka fans were offended. Personally, I don't like her, but if you do, that's fine with me. Please understand that I meant no harm.

~Ambika-san


End file.
